Tell Me What to Read: Round 8

It is, once again, the time of the month where I humiliate myself by admitting how few books I've truly read (or, perhaps, the problem is that not enough of you are suggesting fluffy teen romances. Yes, clearly you are the troubling part of this equation). 

Anyway, suggest away. Same as usual.

It can be any genre, any age level, and have been published last week or three hundred years ago. You can pick it because it's a book that everyone should read or because it changed your life or because it is great literature or just because it entertained you. You can DEFINITELY suggest the same book you suggested last month.

Here's how it goes:

1. Comment with the title of one book you think I should read (any book you want). One title only, please, lest my brain explode.
2. I'll select one comment at random and announce it on the blog later next week.
   
3. On the off-chance that I've already read the book you select, I'll contact you and ask for a follow-up suggestion (make sure there is a way to contact you either by blog or email).
4. I'll get a copy of the book and read it by the end of February.
5. I'll write a review of it here. Even if I hate the book, I will not hate you.

And. . .go!

The Storm in the Barn by Matt Phelan

9 of 10: The Storm in the Barn is so beautifully done; it is the perfect blending of story and image, made even better, for me, by the fact that it's historical fiction.

This is the week of graphic novels, I guess, around here for me. The Storm in the Barn won the Scott O'Dell Award a few weeks ago, an award for historical fiction for children/young adults. It created a bit of a hubbub because, whoa, graphic novel for a book award!? Is that even allowed? (Answer: Yes).

The book takes place in Kansas in 1937, right in the thick of the Dust Bowl years, with Jack Clark right in the thick of things. His dad is constantly after him about not being as useful as he could be, he gets beat up by the local town bullies, and his sister, Dorothy, has dust sickness. It's a lot for an eleven year old boy to carry around on his shoulders.

The trouble is compounded by the fact that Jack begins to think he's seeing some kind of rain monster/shadow lurking in the deserted barn near his home, but with everyone talking about "dust dementia," he doesn't know if he can trust his own eyes. And yet, he can't quite get himself to stay away from the barn either, desperate to know what's is lurking there, in part because rain is so desperately needed, and in part because he has so much he wants to escape from anyway. 

I will admit to knowing next to nothing about the Dust Bowl before I read this book, but it did a great job of giving enough background without disrupting the story, and I'm anxious to read more about it now. This really is historical fiction at its finest.

The art looked so familiar on this book, and the name Matt Phelan rang a bell, but it took me a while to place him as the illustrator for The Higher Power of Lucky (the Newbery winner in 2007, also known as "the book I tried to listen to on shuffle").

This book is all him, the illustration and the writing, and it is gorgeous. The pictures are done a kind of washed out combination of pencil and watercolor that perfectly captures the desolate, endless nature of Kansas during that time period, not to mention the slightly sinister feel of the rain shadow. Oh my word, I just liked holding this book. Really, if you like stories about families, graphic novels, historical fiction, or good artwork, you should read this book.

Oh Brother

Today is Crawford's birthday.

I've been sitting here for a while trying to figure out what to say about him and mostly wondering how my mom EVER talks about Crawford without coming off like one of those parents who is convinced their child is the most perfect child in the world ("and, Mrs. Jones, the reason my child is acting out in class is because he's just too smart; you aren't challenging him.").

Fortunately, all the negative terms about those kinds of parents are never applied to sisters, so I can just go right ahead and tell you how completely and utterly terrific Crawford is.

He's smart, he's athletic, he's friendly, he's handsome. He's delightful in every way. See? Braggy! But it's all true!

We're alike in a lot of ways. We both are very competitive, extremely careful with our money, love to read, and enjoy school more than the average person.

One of the things I love most about Crawford is how much he loves having Bart and me around. I remember every time I came home from college, he would always want to sit next to me at dinner, or he'd snuggle up to me on the couch when we watched a movie. Even now, when his friends will call while we're around, he'll say, "Sorry, Bart and Janssen are here. I'm going to hang out with them." He probably has no idea how good that makes me feel.

Sometimes it seems like our family is a little bit divided into two sections, because of the many year gap between Landen and Crawford, but I love that I remember virtually all of Crawford's life. I remember him before he had glasses (he got them when he was 2), I remember him with a bowl cut, and when he called birds "burds."

And I like him just as much now, as a teenager, as I did when he was the little Tickly Boy.

Happy Birthday, Goghs.

iFail

On Friday evening, I went to the gym (yes, I know, loser alert, but Bart didn't get back until quite late that night and I had nothing better to do. Also, it was the only way I was going to get in my 4 workouts for the week. Also, enough justifying my Friday night at the gym. It's not like you don't already know I'm not exactly radiating coolness).

I was reading a book on the treadmill while I walked, but when I was ready to start running, I turned on my iPod so I could finish up the audiobook I was listening to.

I only ran for a few minutes before I knocked the headphone cord with my arm, dislodging the iPod from the little tray on the machine and sending it flying past me, where it promptly disconnected from the headphones and landed on the floor. Then I had to do that embarrassing retrieval of it while all the people in the row you're in AND the row behind you stare at you as if to say, "you really can't even manage to keep your iPod off the floor?" (but hey, they were all there on a Friday night too, so I couldn't feel too embarrassed).

I got back on the treadmill, restarted the iPod, and continued on my merry way.

For about 47 seconds. And then I knocked the cord again and repeated the whole scenario.

Except this time, I couldn't see the iPod. Granted, I didn't have my contacts in and I'd taken my glasses off because obviously I don't wear those while I run, but still. Black carpet. Silver iPod. It shouldn't have been that difficult.

I just could not see it ANYWHERE. The nice guy next to me took pity on me and laid down on the floor to look under the treadmills. He couldn't see it. The guy on the treadmill behind me asked what we were looking for and he started looking around too.

I searched around all the treadmills, squinting like crazy, to no avail. It was like it had disappeared. And it's not like you can really just hop back on the treadmill and be all, "Meh, it's an iPod. So what if I lose it? I lose equipment worth over $100 every few days and think nothing of it. As you were." I felt pressure not to give up the search.

(Really, the iPod is so old and the top is cracking off, and it's completely scratched from the millions of times I held it against the bars of my bike when I rode back and forth to work that one summer that we will not speak of, and I have a new one that I'd just gotten 10 days earlier, so if it couldn't be found, I wouldn't be devastated).

On my way out, I told the guy at the desk what had happened and pointed out the treadmill I'd been using, asking that if it was found, it just be put at the desk for me and I'd check back in the morning (also, this is an excellent way to emphasize to the gym people that you have no life. Not only are you there on Friday night, but you're telling them you'll be back bright and early the next morning).

The next morning, when I arrived, I asked the guy manning the front desk if it'd been turned in. He said no, then asked me to show him the treadmill I'd been using. He looked under all the treadmills in the bank and all around and I finally said it was no big deal and went to another treadmill to start running.

And then, a guy on the treadmill near the one I'd been using the day before called out to me, "they found it!" Apparently the front desk guy had gotten a screwdriver, opened up the sides of the treadmill and found the iPod lodged in next to the track. Who even knew that could happen?

I think the moral of the story is, don't go to the gym on Friday. It will bring you nothing but humiliation and heartache.

Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute by Jarrett J. Krosoczka

9 of 10: The Lunch Lady series is one of my very favorite set of graphic novels. High kid appeal, fun stories, clever gadgets - what's not to love? 

One thing that breaks my heart at my school libraries is the kid who won't check anything out. They say, "Everything's boring/I don't like to read/I can't find anything I like" and they walk away empty handed. I'm not going to force a kid to check out book, but I do want to help them find something they can enjoy, something that will turn them on to reading.


Happily, I've had great success with some of my reluctant readers with the Lunch Lady books. They sit on the shelf for approximately ten seconds (or sometimes don't even get out of the return basket) before they're snatched back up.

I love these books. The illustrations (all done in black, white, gray, and yellow) are darling. The story line moves quickly (each book is only about 90 pages), and they're just plain funny.

The basic premise is that the lunch lady, when she's not busy serving up sloppy joes and pizza in the cafeteria, is also a self-appointed secret agent, of sorts, scoping out the bad guys at the school, catching robbers around town at night, and generally keeping things under control.

Her sidekick is the lunch lady's helper, Betty, who, behind the freezer door has a giant lab set up where she develops new crime-fighting tools, such as "Taco Night Vision Goggles" and "Lunch Tray Laptop." I giggle to myself every time they pull out a new invention - they're all so hilariously silly and clever.

The second book is called Lunch Lady and the League of Librarians, where the librarians are attempting to steal all the video games in town to encourage reading. Lunch Lady to the rescue of course. One kid picked it up off the shelf, read the back, and then turned to me to say, "I don't think you'll like this book very much." I figure the librarian practically always gets to be the hero - we can be the bad guys once in a while.

The fourth book in the series, Lunch Lady and the Summer Camp Shakedown, comes out this spring, and it's probably my least favorite of the series, although still cute. I am thrilled to see these books doing so well in both of my libraries, and kids asking for more books like them. No need to steal the video games when you  have books with such mega kid-appeal.

At ALA, I got some advance copies of both the third and fourth books and after I read them, I used them as prizes for the third grade. Wow, were they popular! Also, was I "Librarian of the Century" that day, or what? It was awesome.

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson, David Oliver Relin and Sarah Thomson

7 of 10: Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Journey to Change the World... One Child at a Time is one of those books where the writing and the story didn't match up that well for me.  

This is kind of a hard book for me to write about (which is why, even though it's now nearly the END of January, I'm just now writing about this book which was the DECEMBER "Tell Me What To Read" winner).

I mean, you can't help but be impressed by Greg Mortenson's story; he gets himself lost in the mountains and stumbles on this little Pakistan village, where they are so kind to him that he vows to come back and build a school for them. Except, you know, he has no money and he's not exactly a builder or anything. Details.

He manages to raise the money, though, and the project snowballs into dozens of schools in villages all over the area. Mortenson dedicates his whole life to this venture - leaving his wife and children at home for months at a time as he goes to oversee the building of these schools, raise more money, etc. There are some dangerous experiences (he's kidnapped at one point and is nearly killed), and 9/11 changes a lot of things, but he's so enthusiastic and committed that it's impossible not to be impressed and inspired.

But the writing. Oh man, you guys who said it was dry? You weren't kidding. I made a feeble ten page attempt at the adult version and decided to read the young reader's edition instead.

It's hard to read a book where you feel like the story is powerful and important, but the writing just gets in the way, over and over again. It was hard to keep all the people involved straight, and I felt like narrative kind of jumped around.

Anyway, complaints aside, I'm glad to have read the book, since it's so widely known and Moretenson's tactics are so different from the way much of the world is addressing problems in the Middle East, but I can't help but wish they'd picked someone else to write the book.

Eight Hours

I know a good goal is supposed to be measurable, be written down, have an end date, be specific, and all that. And generally speaking, my goals are.

But for the last two years, I've made a goal that had none of these qualities. Each year, it was just a small thing I wanted to do to change the way I live my life daily.

Last year, I wanted to start eating breakfast. I have not been much of a breakfast eater. I tend to feel pretty sick in the mornings (it was particularly bad in high school, when I would be curling my hair or putting on makeup and then suddenly have to spend five minutes laying on the tile floor to avoid throwing up all over myself; in the last couple of years, it has become fairly rare, to my great joy), and food didn't appeal to me at all.

Now, I eat breakfast virtually every day. I can't think of the last time I've skipped breakfast. I feel better in the mornings; my eating throughout the day is more regular. It's fantastic.

This year, Bart and I both decided we wanted to get more sleep. We are kind of terrible at staying up late, doing nothing, and then cursing ourselves the next morning. We often joke, when the clock is ticking towards midnight on a weeknight, "Is tonight the new Thursday?"

Over Christmas vacation, I read an article (thanks to Ashley for the link) saying that your happiness would be increased more by an extra hour of sleep than by a $60,000 raise (and you know me and money; can you even IMAGINE how happy an extra $60K would make me?). I thought, "I could really do with some more sleep. I'm sick of feeling exhausted all the time, of waking up and thinking, 'how soon can I get back to bed?'" and I decided that this would be my life-style changing goal for the year.

Since the beginning of the year, I have gotten 8 hours of sleep most nights. I feel kind of stupid that it's taken me so long to put a priority on sleep. That I've let mindless Facebook or Google Reader browsing take away hours of sleep.

It's easy to feel like going to bed makes the day too short, that I get less time to do the things I want, but when I wake up and don't want to die, when I wake up and can get ready, make lunches, straighten the house, do the dishes, and get my stuff together before leaving for work on time, it seems a small sacrifice to make.

And when a giant crash from the apartment above woke me up at about 5:00 a.m. this morning (no idea what it was), I didn't think "ACK! I'm only getting 5 hours of sleep tonight and you've now robbed me of 15 minutes of it!" and then hyperventilate about not being able to get back to sleep. I just thought, "Six and a half hours down, ninety minutes to go."

Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell

9 of 10: Outliers was gripping, from first page to last. This is just the kind of non-fiction I can't read fast enough; it's as easy to read as a novel.

My parents gave us this book on CD for Christmas. I hadn't really planned on listening to it, at least not right away, but when I found myself with nothing else to listen to on my drive home from school, I popped it in and was instantly hooked.

This was a book I couldn't stop talking about, telling Bart every last detail about it, and sending my mom emails telling her about the cool things I'd learned from it. I even had an extremely vivid dream where I saw a friend from high school and spent twenty minutes going over the first chapter in great detail (accurately, I might add). So, yes, it would be safe to say I loved this book.

The basic premise of the book is that people who do remarkable things do so because of unusual circumstances and opportunities that are not available to everyone else. For instance, the first chapter is about how the majority of professional hockey players in Canada are born in the first three months of the year. The cutoff is January 1st, so you have boys eligible for the same teams that have an age span of twelve months. At the age of 9 or 10 (which is when boys are chosen for traveling teams), a difference of 12 months can be huge. You're most likely going to be bigger and more coordinated. Not because you are a hockey prodigy, but just because, if you were born in January, you have almost a full year on the kids born in November and December and they just aren't as physically mature as you are.

So you're picked to be on the traveling team. You play 70 games in a season instead of 20. Your coach is better, as are your teammates. You practice more hours in the day. Is it any surprise, then, that you end up a better hockey player than the kid who didn't get picked for that team?

The book is full of these kinds of things and I found them all fascinating.

On the other hand, Gladwell isn't discounting sheer intelligence and hard work, which I appreciated. When he talks about Bill Gates, who had opportunities virtually no other child had, he also is sure to discuss that those opportunities would have meant nothing if Gates hadn't been ready to work hard and take advantage of those opportunities.

Is the book perfect? Of course not. I thought the chapter about how a heritage of rice farming in China is the cause of Asians' success in the math/science field fell short of actually proving causation. And, of course, because it's his book, Gladwell can pick and choose what examples to use that prove his theory. But overall, it's a fascinating read, even if you have a few instances where you kind of want to say, "hmm, I'm not actually buying that."

Six or eight months ago, I wrote a post about a non-fiction book and someone asked if I'd been paid to review it (I assume because it was so different from the teen books I gravitate toward), but really informative non-fiction is definitely in my top three genres. I love books about education or nutrition or behind-the-scenes or explanations for unexplained trends or occurrences (like Freakonomics). So, of course, I'm an excellent audience for this book. But really, I think this book would appeal to most people.

I started reading The Tipping Point a few days ago and, while I'm enjoying it, so far I've found Outliers far more interesting. So, if you've read something else by Gladwell and come up a bit short, you may still enjoy this one.

Frugality

If you came to my house this morning, you would see my ALA books stacked all over my living room floor and my cereal bowl unwashed in the sink. My Christmas tree is STILL up. (My bed, however, is made). Between a full-time job, a decently long commute, going to the gym four times a week, my reading, and, you know, a life, the last thing I probably need is yet another project. And yet, I have one.

I think it's fairly obvious to any of you who have read my blog for a while that I kind of love talking about money. I love saving money and figuring out how to spend less, and how to bring our monthly expenses down. And, happily for me, I have a sister and a mother who share those interests.

And, so, we've started. . .wait for it. . . a blog. About how to be frugal, how to stop sabatoging your own financial future, and ideas of areas where you can cut or trim your spending.

We're just getting it started - I think we have about 8 posts up so far, but it's updated nearly every week day, so the content is growing reasonably quickly. It would delight me to no end, of course, if you would check it out, maybe leave a comment or, if you'd like, add it to your reader.

With no further ado, (have I watched too many book award ceremonies this week? Yes), Frugal Wife = Wealthy Life. I'm kind of ridiculously excited about it.

ALA Awards

People, it was worth getting up on a holiday at 6:30 in the morning, driving in rush hour traffic to downtown Boston, and braving the snow that pouring down to hear the ALA awards made in person. I am feeling on top of the world today.

Anyway, for those of you who asked, here are the winners:

CALDECOTT
Winner: The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney (I have been telling all my students that this was a favorite to win and they all loved this book, so I think they'll be excited; also it's about time, Pinkney won the actual gold medal here).
Honor: All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon and Marla Frazee (haven't even heard of it!)
Honor: Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors by Joyce Sidman and Pamela Zagarenski (haven't heard of this one either).

NEWBERY
Winner: When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead (I read this over the summer and loved it, but couldn't quite figure out what to say about it. It's quirky, to be sure, but fun and extremely readable. This book was universally a winner in the mock Newberys around the country).
Honor: Claudette Colvin: Twice Towards Justice by Phillip Hoose (this might be the single most awarded book this year)
Honor: The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly (this was a big favorite to win too)
Honor: Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin (time to read this one, I guess. Also very popular in the mock Newberys)
Honor: The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg by Rodman Philbrick. (Probably should read this one. Same guy who wrote Freak the Mighty, I think, though, which I hated with a fiery passion).

PRINTZ
Winner: Going Bovine by Libba Brey (I think this was a pretty surprise win. I've heard good things about it, but not read it).
Honor: Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman (The only Printz recepient this year I've actually read. Not at all surprised this was on the list; it was a big favorite to win).
Honor: The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey (Haven't even heard of this one)
Honor: Punkzilla by Adam Rapp (got this at TLA, but it was just seemed too weird for me and I didn't read it; I haven't heard a word about it).
Honor: tales from the MADMAN underground (An Historical Romance 1973) by John Barnes. (I own a copy of this one, but haven't read it. The talk of the pervasive swearing is in it has put me off).

So there they are. Plus, the six gazilion other awards ALA gives out, which you can find here (scroll down a bit on the page).

The Newbery books were not really a surprise at all, but the Printz, wow, except for Charles and Emma, those were all shockers, I thought.

I have so much more to say about ALA, the exhibits, the lovely people I've met, the books I am so excited about I can hardly breathe, and, perhaps most of all, the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt dinner last night that I (miraculously) scored an invite to, where Lois Lowry, Russell Freedman, Beth Fantaskey, Linda Urban, Loree Griffin Burns, Jeannie Birdsall, and Susan Campbell Bartoletti all spoke about their upcoming books and they handed out advance copies of most of them (not one of Russell Freedman's new book about WWI, though, which was the one I was perhaps most anxious to get ahold of).

Oh, the whole weekend has been a delight. But now the exhibits are open for the last day and I'm off to take a final turn through before going to sit in on the Best Books for Young Adults panel discussion again. What a glorious Monday.

On the First Day

Last night was the first night of ALA. The exhibits opened at 5:30 and, oh. my. There were hot h'orderves, cases of soda, hot popcorn, candy bars galore, champagne . . .

Oh, and books. Lots and lots of books.

I know it looks like I grabbed everything in sight, but really I was quite discerning. I am so excited to go back tomorrow. Frankly, the excitement might kill me.

Friday, Friday, Friday

Isn't Friday just the most delightful day?

Today, I'm particularly loving Friday because:

• It's a payday
• I had delicious leftovers for lunch
• I'm having a good hair day (I can't say anything about hair without imaging Anne Shirley wailing, "It's my HAAAAAIR")
• I'm going straight to ALA after work today, where all the good hair in the world will not hide my true nerdiness
• It's a lovely 45 degrees outside (I have become the kind of person who considers that a lovely warm day. . . oh, my former naive self. How I long for you)
• I have now read 13 books this year
• I don't have to go to the gym today, as I've already done my four trips (since this weekend will be too crazy to fit in another one)
• Monday is a holiday!
• Bart comes home today (he's been in Wisconsin for work)!

Oh, Friday. I just adore you.

The Great and Only Barnum by Candace Fleming

9 of 10: The Great and Only Barnum is just what you want non-fiction to be. There is some buzz about this one getting a Newbery nod and I think it would deserve it. Fun, interesting, and well-paced, I can't stop talking about this book.

I really knew nothing about Barnum except that he was somehow involved in creating the Barnum and Bailey circus. I wish I had something to add to that list, but really, that was the great extent of my knowledge.
The book starts with his early life (what a surprise in a biography, yes?) and tells a little about how he came by his tricky and showman-y nature naturally.

There is a terrific story about his grandfather who was stuck on a boat for a few days with some other men. Only the grandfather had a razon and as they were finally approching shore, he suggested they all shave. But, he told them, to make it fair, everyone would shave half their face, hand the razor to the next guy, and then they'd start over until they were all clean-shaven. When it returned to the grandfather, who had started, he shaved the second half of his face, then declared the razor dull and proceeded to sharpen it, "accidentally" losing his grip on it and letting it fall into the ocean. When they pulled ashore, all the men, except the grandfather, had half a beard. Oh, how I laughed.

Barnum early on discovered that he prefered to figure out how to make money than to actually, you know, do manual labor. While running a store for his uncle, he bought hundreds green glass bottles for almost nothing. His uncle was furious - what would they do with these bottles?! - but Barnum came up with a great idea. He sold tickets for $1 each, promising that one in two tickets would win a prize. The prize, of course, was the bottles, and people walked away happy and the store turned a nice profit.

What really rocketed Barnum to fame was not the circus, but his musuem of wonders that he opened in New York City (had you even heard of this? I never had). It had seven main sections, each filled with various strange animals, historical objects, and people with unusual physical properties (a 25 inch tall man, a giantess, a boy with hair all over his face, etc). People swarmed there and Barnum was a master marketer.

Eventually Barnum did get into the circus business, originally on his own, and it was his idea to have the circus travel by railway (they could put on three times as many shows), the concept of the three-ring circus (with one ring, he could not get people to stay in their seats because they couldn't see and it made the people who'd paid more for better tickets angry), and when he brought an elephant named Jumbo in, it was so popular that the word "Jumbo" came to mean "huge" (whip that tidbit out at your next cocktail party).

Barnum, more than anything else, was a marketing genius. He was so good at figuring out how to attract people and then also how to get them to come back. Fleming does a great job of making him both a little slick, but also generally good hearted (the famous "there's a sucker born every minute" is falsly attributed to him - it was one of his competitors, bitter at Barnum's success who said it).

I could go on all day about the fascinating people, stories, and historical events that pepper this book, but I won't. You can go read it yourself.

Fleming has made a name for herself with her scrapbooks of Ben Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and the Abraham and Mary Lincoln, but this one is not a scrapbook. There are a lot of pictures and text boxes occasionally to tell a little unrelated or semi-related story, but overall, it reads very smoothly; I prefer this format to the scrapbooks which I find a bit jolting to read.

I hope this one gets some award nods this weekend. It certainly, certainly deserves it.

This Weekend

This weekend is the American Library Association Midwinter conference. This is it, folks. The one where they announce the Caldecott winners, Newbery winners, Printz winners, etc.

There will also be exhibits galore. A chance to see all kinds of new books and books that haven't come out yet (you know I'm crossing my fingers for a chance at a few specific titles. . . ).

In other words, nerd heaven. My kind of nerd heaven.

Best of all, it's in Boston this year. That's right, practically my own backyard. I will be there, IN PERSON (if I can get myself out of bed early enough) when they announce the winners of all those prestigious awards. There are tons of events going on, including a YA author/blogger/publisher Twitter meetup that I can hardly even stand to think about.

I am so excited, I can hardly sit still.

My school district is paying for me to go, and then, somehow, by fortune I'm still not sure about, I got access to some free exhibit passes too, so I registered Bart and he's coming along. I cannot wait.

Oh, believe me, friends, you will be so tired of hearing about ALA when it's all over. Because I probably will be talking about it until my 30th birthday.

Interest

Early on in our relationship, Bart commented on something I'd sort of taken for granted about my parents. "They're so interested in the thing things you do," he told me. "They ask questions about your projects, they go to all your events, they know what you're involved in."

He's right.

My parents had no exposure to Forensics (the speech and debate type, not the blood and gore in a lab type), but when I joined the team (at my mom's prompting), they came along to nearly every competition and judged (having judges was part of my grade). They would talk about which events they liked judging best, which students were particularly good, which ones they were kind of unimpressed by. They would come to the award ceremonies, even if I wasn't winning anything. They told all their friends about the "one-clap" rule.

I remember clearly my mom attending a dress rehearsal of The Little Prince (I was the prince, complete with Barbara Bush wig), because it looked like she'd be in Salt Lake with Shepard for radiation when the show actually ran. Looking back, I realize how much she must have had on her mind - she was going to be missing Christmas, the radiation probably was going to leave Shepard permanently somewhat mentally incapacitated, she'd be away from her home, her other four children, and her husband for weeks at a time, at a new hospital - and yet she sat through two hours of a (I'll be the first to admit, somewhat slow) high school dress rehearsal. She was interested in what I was doing. Even when the rest of life was crazy. (At the last minute, the doctors decided to hold off on radiation and try one last round of chemo, so my mom and Shepard didn't go to Salt Lake).

They're like that for my other siblings too. They go to Merrick's art shows, they drive to Utah to see the shows that Landen does the costume design for. They attend every last lacrosse and soccer game or swim meet that Crawford participates in. They make us feel important. They make us feel interesting.

That isn't to say they are helicopter parents or that they don't give us our space. For all of us, these are our own hobbies or talents, things we pursue, to a large degree, on our own. But they are always interested, always in attendance, always quick to encourage and support and cheer us on in person.

Since Bart has mentioned this, I've thought back to many of my friends whose parents loved them, of course, but seemed to have no real interest in their pursuits. They never came to their sporting events or theater performances or forensic tournaments. They hardly seemed to even know their children were involved in these things.

I think one of the best part about this trait of my parents is that because they've been so interested in our hobbies, our pursuits, our educations, we are willing to be interested in what they love or find fascinating.

When my dad sat us all down to watch a five minute clip from From the Earth to the Moon, we all paid attention. I went on to watch every episode (multiple times), some with him, some without him. When he has a place he wants to visit, or a tape to have us listen to, or a family project to work on, we're generally all in.

My mom liked to visit model homes when we were growing up. I think all three of us girls learned to really enjoy this, picking out what rooms would be ours, or where we'd put our doll funiture. When my mom passes along a book that she's enjoyed, we'll read it. When she wants to visit a store or try a new project or take a cake decorating class, we jump onboard.

If there is anything I can do as a parent, if there is anything Bart and I are determined to do, it's to let our kids know that we are interested in their lives, even when their interests are in areas we have previously had zero interest or affinity for. And, with any luck, they'll learn to love what we love too.

Calamity Jack by Shannon Hale, Dean Hale, and Nathan Hale

8 of 10: Calamity Jack is a graphic novel I'd recommend to anyone who's already a fan of the genre and to those who've never opened a graphic novel in their life. Fun, and fast paced, although not quite as great as the first book, Rapunzel's Revenge.

You know, of course, that I already love Shannon Hale, so I was prepared to love both of these books. She co-authored them with her husband, Dean Hale, and the illustrations were done by Nathan Hale (despite having the same last name, he is unrelated to the other two). And love these books I did.

Rapunzel's Revenge was one of the very first graphic novels I ever read and I instantly fell in love with it. It was funny and clever and had beautiful full-color illustrations. I bought copies of it for both of my libraries and pre-ordered copies of Calamity Jack.


Rapunzel's Revenge was about Rapunzel's escape from the tower (thanks to her long braids, she rescued herself), her teaming up with Jack, and her subsequent saving of her hometown and mother from the clutches of the evil witch lady who ruled it.

Calamity Jack goes back and gives some background about Jack before he met up with Rapunzel (hint: it involves a bean stalk and a goose that lays gold eggs) and then Jack and Rapunzel's journey to the big city, Shyport (Jack's hometown), where he hopes to impress her with his street smarts. Except everything is going to ruin in his city, thanks to a nefarious plot that Jack unwittingly helped start with the aforementioned bean stalk fiasco.

I read a bit about the book's background on Shannon Hale's site and she talked about how much more difficult it was to write than Rapunzel's Revenge, and how it was a much more complicated kind of book (crime caper rather than western). I think you'll get a feel of that just by comparing the two covers:

Rapunzel's Revenge is one I think many of the kids at my elementary school will enjoy, while Calamity Jack will take a much stronger reader to catch everything that's going on and stick with the story. I'll be interested to see how the two go over in my libraries (the copies just arrived last week and haven't gone out yet).

I love that these books are so clean - it can be surprisingly difficult to find graphic novels that fit this bill. Calamity Jack has a bit of romance in it, but it's played more for laughs, I thought, than anything else.

My one complaint about the book is that if you haven't read Rapunzel's Revenge (or if, like me, it's been a few years since you read it and it's a bit of a blur in your mind now), it's kind of hard to sort out some of the early parts of Calamity Jack. It took me forever to figure out how it lined up with the first book, chronology wise. But maybe I'm just not all that bright (I'm willing to admit it's a distinct possibility).

Anyway, it's a fun book, and I definitely enjoyed reading it, but I wish I'd reread Rapunzel's Revenge before starting in on Calamity Jack.

********************************************

I  received a free advance copy of this book as part of a book tour. You can read more about this book on the other participants' blogs here: Sally Apokedak, Reading is my Superpower, firesidemusings.blogspot.com, Through the Looking Glass Book Review , Booking Mama, Cafe of Dreams, Becky’s Book Reviews, The Hungry Readers, The Friendly Book Book, My Own Little Corner of the World, Book Blather, GreenBeanTeenQueen, Book Crumbs , Abby (the) Librarian, Dolce Bellezza, Homeschoolbuzz.com, The Book Cellar, Carrie’s YA Bookshelf, Bookshelf Monstrosity, Frenetic Reader, KidzBookBuzz.com, Maw Books

What I'm Going to Read: Round 7

I am kind of ludicrously excited that The Magician's Assistant by Ann Patchett won. Kelly has been pushing this book for MONTHS, people, and I keep meaning to read it and then forget about it (story of my life).

Can I just say how much I appreciate all your suggestions? I have totally loved doing this thing and it would be so incredibly lame if only two or three people made suggestions.

Ahem, in less cheesy-group-hug news, the other nominations:

• Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson (Saskia)
• Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell (Melinda)
• City of Thieves by David Benioff (Doug)
• The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World by Eric Weiner (Jenny)
• Innocent Traitor: A Novel of Lady Jane Grey by Alison Weir (Diana Banana)
• Schuyler's Monster: A Father's Journey with His Wordless Daughter by Robert Rummel-Hudson (Jess)
• What Dreams May Come by Richard Matheson (Kayla)
• A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson (RA)
• Bloody Jack: Being An Account Of The Curious Adventures Of Mary Jacky Faber, Ship's Boy by L.A. Meyer (Chelsea)
• The Dark Hills Divide by Patrick Carman (Carly Jane)
• The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley (Smalldog)
• Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand (Heidikins)
• The Help by Kathryn Stockett (Tina)
• Fablehaven by Brandon Mull (Norby Family & Em and Trev)
• Amy's Eyes by Richard Kennedy (Janelle)
• The Last Summer (of You and Me) by Ann Brashares (Jamie Onken)
• One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus (Jle122)
• Jumping Off Swings by Jo Knowles (Jessica)
• Grace by Richard Paul Evans (P)
• Life of Pi by Yann Martel (Sherry)
• The Invisible Wall: A Love Story That Broke Barriers by Harry Bernstein (Lexiloo)
• One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Melanie)
• The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey (Megan)
• Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Murrillier (Angiegirl)
• The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown (Mary)
• East of Eden by John Steinbeck (Merry)
• When I Was Joe by Keren David (Becky)
• The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate (Peaceful Reader)
• The Gerbil Farmer's Daughter by Holly Robinson (Mad Hadder)
• The Magicians by Lev Grossman (Christy)
• We Were Not Alone: How an Lds Family Survived World War II Berlin by Karola Hilbert Reece (Holly)
• Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (Poodle)
• The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb (Ari)
• Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese (Shelah)
• My Own Country by Abraham Verghese (Becca)
• The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (Jenn)
• Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout (Shelly)
• Impossible Things by Connie Willis (Yankee Girl)
• The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (Miri)
• The Unlikely Romance of Kate Bjorkman by Louise Plummer (Mary) 
  
• The Rag and Bone Shop by Robert Cormier (Angela Noelle)

Horrifingly, I have read exactly ONE book on this list. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card, which is one of my favorite books. Oh, I love this book. But, really? ONE?!?! Must step it up. Perhaps I'll secretly read every book on this list this month and than laugh like a loon when I have read over half the recommendations next month.

Or perhaps I won't.

Cybils

I am a self-admitted awards junkie. I love reading a book with a shiny sticker on the front - Caldecott, Printz, Newbery, National Book Award, Morris Award, I love them all. Do not even ask me about my spreadsheet of award winners/nominees/honors that I check off as I read them. It's too embarrassing.

But my favorite award doesn't hand out stickers. You may not be familiar with the Cybils awards; they haven't been around since 1938 like the Caldecott (or even longer for the Newbery). They began in 2006, as a set of awards given out by book bloggers for juvenile and young adult books. Anyone (and I mean ANYONE) can nominate a book in any of the nine categories. Then a group of first round panelists for each category read all the nominees and come up with a list of seven finalists. A second group of judges then chooses a winner from those finalists. The finalist lists and the winners tend to be terrific, terrific books.

The point of the Cybils is to select books that have "high literary merit" AND "kid-appeal." I love them for this. You may notice, if you ever look closely at the criteria for the ALA awards like the Caldecott and Newbery, that "kid-appeal" appears nowhere within them. And sometimes the winning books are staggeringly unappealing to most children. I have a lot of personal librarian angst about this topic; for every Tuesday by David Wiesner (a book I have yet to see a child not fall upon eagerly), there are a dozen . . . well, lets not name names here. We'll just all agree that there are plenty of Newbery, Caldecott, and Printz books that most kids would be pretty skeptical of.

It's been really fun to watch these awards gain momentum. When we went to DC for the National Book Festival, Shannon Hale's bio mentioned that her books had been Cybil winners. Didn't THAT just warm my heart?

This year, I'm a judge on the non-fiction picture book category. Between now and the middle of February, our group will pick a winner from the seven finalists that the first round judges selected. I've been collecting the titles from the library and they all look terrific (you can see them all here: Non-Fiction Picture Book Finalists).

I am so excited to be part of the process this year - I can't wait to see what the winners end up being. And then, when the judging is all over, I'll add another tab to my Nerd Spectacular Spreadsheet.

The Goals, The Goals

Around January, I always read a lot of blog posts saying how people hate New Years resolutions, it's just courting failure, why should a new year mean a lot of changes, etc.

I couldn't feel more differently.

For one, I'm always excited about NEW NEW NEW and it's fun to think about what I want to accomplish in the coming year, where I want to be at the end of the year.

Also, as I've mentioned before, my parents are very big into goal setting and setting measurable, realistic goals, with steps to reach them, and then reviewing them many many times throughout the year and the goals displayed prominently in our various bedrooms and bathrooms.

And, as I was telling Bart yesterday, new goals for the year help me get through the months of cold, ugly winter until spring arrives. Otherwise, it'd be so so tempting to just lay around eating leftover Christmas candy, and watching movies until the snow disappeared.

So, without further ado, here is a partial list of my goals this year:

• Go to the gym 4 days a week. Last year, my goal was 3 times a week, and I never once, not ONCE went more than that. So I'm stepping it up this year. This goal is really more to help me reach my bigger goal to. . . .
  
• Log 450 miles this year (walking or running). That averages out to around 2-2.5 miles four times a week, almost every week of the year. It's not an unrealistically high goal, but it'll help me be accountable for how I spend my gym time (aka, no more "I walked for 19.5 minutes and thus am superwoman and can go home and eat candy canes until I am blue in the face")(I don't even like candy canes).
• Participate in both the 2009 and 2010 Cybils. More on this later.
• Eat only two desserts a week. I can't tell you what a good thing this was for me last year. I now have no urge to eat desserts that don't REALLY appeal to me, and I consciously decide whether or not to eat every dessert that shows up.
• Listen to a daily news podcast. I would like to not be the person who says, "um, what senate bill? what national political scandal? what economic forecasts?" anymore.
• Take a book reviewing course through Simmons. I am so excited for this. . .
• Read six classics that I have not previously read. Science Teacher Mommy sent me a great list that I'll probably work off of.
  

I haven't made a goal of how many books to read this year - I think I'll just see what number I end up at.

Anyway, so far I'm off to a good start. 2010 is going to be a great year for me; I can feel it.

Tell Me What to Read: Round 7

And here we are in 2010 - time for a new year of Tell Me What To Read. You all know the drill, I think. Recommend a book that you think I ought to read, and I'll pick one at random from the list.

It can be any genre, any age level, and have been published last week or three hundred years ago. You can pick it because it's a book that everyone should read or because it changed your life or because it is great literature or just because it entertained you. You can DEFINITELY suggest the same book you suggested last month.

Here's how it goes:

1. Comment with the title of one book you think I should read (any book you want). One title only, please, lest my brain explode.
2. I'll select one comment at random and announce it on the blog later this week
   
3. On the off-chance that I've already read the book you select, I'll contact you and ask for a follow-up suggestion (make sure there is a way to contact you either by blog or email).
4. I'll get a copy of the book and read it by the end of January.
5. I'll write a review of it here. Even if I hate the book, I will not hate you.

And. . .go!

Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat by Lynne Jonell

9 of 10: Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat is just the kind of book I'll be recommending to the kids at my elementary school. Funny, magical, clever - I loved every page of it. This is another book from the Massachusetts Children's Book Award list, and I think it's my favorite of the bunch so far. 


A number of people emailed me this Christmas asking for book recommendations for upper-elementary/early middle school readers. I wish I'd read this book then, as I would have been promoting it like mad.

Emmy tries very hard to be good - she does all her schoolwork, eats her vegetables, doesn't complain, and attends her numerous after school activities. This good behavior is an attempt to win her parents' affection or at least their notice, but so far it has been in vain.

It wasn't always like this. Emmy and her parents used to run a little bookstore, living above the shop, enjoying a cozy, if somewhat poor, life together. And then, unexpectedly, an unknown great-uncle died, leaving a great fortune to Emmy's parents.The family moved into the great-uncle's now-empty mansion, which meant Emmy now attends a new school, where she has no friends and no one seems to even notice her. Despite her good grades, the teacher can't even remember her name.

Worst of all, her parents now seem far more interested in traveling the world than staying home with Emmy, who is left behind for weeks at a time with the somewhat horrible nanny, Miss Barmy.

The only positive thing in Emmy's life, frankly, is the rat in the classroom, who suddenly is able to talk to her (even if he is quite rude).

A talking rat is only the beginning for Emmy, though, as she suddenly discovers that there is far more magic than she might have guessed in the world around her, and, worse that someone is out to ruin her life.

This book had a bit of the same thrill that Harry Potter had for me, upon reading the first book. The discovery of magic in an otherwise ordinary and dull world was just as exciting for me as it was for Emmy - I loved the clever things that she discovered, the funny and amusing ways things played out, and the diabolic plot that Emmy starts to uncover.

The characters in this book are so well-fleshed out - you love the good guys and love loathing the bad guys even more. This really is an almost perfect novel.

One other clever thing about this book that I did not catch until I was about halfway through is that if you rifle through the pages quickly, the drawings on the edge of the page act as a flip book. This amusing little touch completely won me over.

Really, I can't say enough good things about this book - I can't wait to read it aloud to my classes this next week; I think they'll love it too!

Fourth Quarter Reading 2009

My final book count for the year ended at 199. Last year it was 149. Apparently, I do not like round numbers. Also, hey! Fifty books more this year than in 2008.

1. Girlfriend Material - Melissa Kantor
   
More depth than I would have expected. I find myself thinking about this book somewhat regularly.
2. Front and Center - Catherine Gilbert Murdock
   
It's hard for me to believe that this was from the same author who wrote Princess Ben. 
3. Lunch Lady and the League of Librarians - Jarrett J. Krosoczka
   
So funny. I immediately bought copies for both my libraries. 
4. Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute - Jarrett J Krosoczka
A quick, delightful read. These are excellent entry books into the world of Graphic Novels.
5. Chasing Lincoln's Killer - James L. Swanson
   
So well done. My mom read my copy and loved it, and I gave the adult version to both of Bart's dads for Christmas.
6. Touch - Francine Prose
   
Can hardly remember this book at all. Never a great sign.
7. No Talking - Andrew Clements
   Only my second Andrew Clements, but FAR better than Frindle in my opinion.
   
8. Mockingbird - Kathryn Erskine
   
It's a bit hard for me to read these kinds of books, but this one was quite well-done and I loved the parallels to To Kill A Mockingbird.
9. Atonement - Ian McEwan
   I don't really know what to say about this one. I knew what the ending was before it got there. Also, the swearing really lessened my enjoyment of this book. 
11. The Girl with the Silver Eyes - Willo Davis Roberts
    
I'd rather read Matilda, frankly. I think this book hasn't aged all that well.
12. How to Steal a Dog - Barbara O'Connor
    
I could not believe how much the kids at my schools loved this book. 
13. My Haunted House - Angie Sage
    
Most certainly the shortest book I read this year.
14. Stitches: A Memoir - David Small
    
I get depressed just thinking about this book.
15. Found - Margaret Peterson Haddix
    
A great book, but I have zero interest in reading the sequel.
16. Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice - Phillip M. Hoose
    
Really a fine book.
17. Amos Fortune, Free Man - Elizabeth Yates
    
I had never even heard of this Newbery winner. Pretty good. 
18. Miracles on Maple Hill - Virginia Sorensen
    
So delightful. Can't wait to read this one to my kids.
19. Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village - Laura Amy Schlitz
    
I have avoided this book since all the negative responses to its winning the Newbery. But then I loved it.
20. Rabbit Hill - Robert Lawson
    
I felt like an old person when I read this book, since I was so on the side of the farmers, rather than the animals.
21. How I Live Now - Meg Rosoff
    
Started out strong, but then dragged on until I nearly lost my will to live.
23. Call it Courage - Armstrong Perry
    
Call it Boring.
24. Lincoln: A Photobiography - Russell Freedman
    
I loved this book. Time to pick up his book about Eleanor Roosevelt.
25. Medina Hill - Trilby Kent
    
Wish it could have been a smidge better. I donated my copy to my library, but no kids have read it yet. I want to know what they think of it. 
26. Jumped - Rita Garcia-Williams
I am so not the ideal audience for these kinds of books. Gritty is not my style.
27. These Is My Words - Nancy E. Turner
    
My very favorite book of the year.
28. The First Part Last - Angela Johnson
    
Such a typical Printz kind of book.
29. Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices - Paul Fleischman
    
Fun to listen to on CD. 
30. A Drowned Maiden's Hair: A Melodrama - Laura Amy Schlitz
    
I didn't realize until just now that this is the same author as "Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!" I am very observant.
31. So You Want to be President? - Judith St. George
    
Delightful and funny.
32. Babymouse: Skater Girl - Jennifer L. Holm
    
Liked the Lunch Lady books better. 
33. Sleeping Naked is Green: How an Eco-Cynic Unplugged Her Fridge, Sold Her Car, and Found Love in 366 Days - Vanessa Farquharson
    
Interesting, but I'm not giving up my toilet paper any time soon.
34. The Matchlock Gun - Walter D. Edmonds
    
Bless this Newbery title for being short.
35. Pizza, Pigs, and Poetry: How to Write a Poem - Jack Prelutsky
    
I loved this book. Jack Prelutsky is brilliant and clever.
36. The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had - Kristin Levine
    
So good. So so good. 
37. Lips Touch: Three Times - Laini Taylor
I keep wondering: do teens really like this book or is it a book that adults THINK teens should like? 
38. The Rules of Survival - Nancy Werlin
I keep trying to write about this book. It was so intense but brilliantly done.
39. Splendor - Anna Gobersen
This series petered off a bit for me. 
40. Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith - Deborah Heligman
    
So interesting, but far more YA than I was expecting. For some reason, I thought it'd be middle grade level. Not so.
41. The Middle Place - Kelly Corrigan
    
I liked it while reading it, but have kind of forgotten about it since.
42. East - Edith Pattou
    
I was never so surprised as when a girl at church recognized this book and said it was one of her favorites. How had I never even heard of it?
43. Soulless - Gail Carriger
    
What an odd combination of Victorian England and vampires.
44. Are These My Basoomas I See Before Me? - Louise Rennison
    
I laughed myself silly reading this one. Oh, Georgia, how I love you. 
45. Shug - Jenny Han
    
Good, but it's no "The Summer I Turned Pretty."
46. The Actor and the Housewife - Shannon Hale
    
Delightful! I loved this book, as you well know.
47. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Steig Larsson
    
A very fast, gripping read, but I had to skip a few too many pages for me to feel comfortable recommending.
48. Daddy-Long-Legs - Jean Webster
    
Sweet, but so obviously old. Also, so obvious what the ending was.
49. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life - Barbara Kingsolver
    
Fascinating, but I still bought strawberries this week.
50. Sunshine - Robin McKinley
    
I don't know what it was, but this book did nothing for me. I checked it out three times and renewed it twice more before I finished it.
51. Kit's Wilderness - David Almond
    
Printz committee, I just do not understand you at all.
52. Silent to the Bone - E. L. Konigsburg
    
What an odd book. E. L. Konigsburg, you kind of perplex me. 
53. The Year of Secret Assignments - Jacyln Moriarty
    
Frankly, pretty forgettable.
54. Lovestruck Summer - Melissa C. Walker
    
Austin, how I miss you.
55. The Everafter - Amy Huntley
    
Quite delightful. A fast, weekend read.
56. Absolutely Normal Chaos - Sharon Creech
    
Skip this, go straight to Walk Two Moons.
57. M.C. Higgins the Great - Virginia Hamilton
    
I realized I do not like books set over a period of just a day or two. Also, nothing happens in this book. Be warned.
58. Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking rat - Lynne Jonell
    
So terrific. I loved this book. 
59. Calamity Jack - Shannon Hale, Dean Hale, and Nathan Hale
    
Good, but not as good as Rapunzel's Revenge.
60. The White Darkness - Geraldine McCaughrean
    
Another Printz pick that had me completely stymied. Where do they FIND these things?
61. Sisters in Sanity - Gayle Forman
    
If I Stay was far superior. I wonder why she switched publishers.  

And that's 2009.